


The Terror of Gotjawal Forest

by fandom_unnie



Category: K-pop, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: A lot of Sope, Gen, Ghost Stories, Halloween, Halloween Special, Have I mentioned that I love Sope, Hoseok being scared, Hurt/Comfort, No Slash, OT7, Seokjin being grumpy, Some angst, Sope, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-01-26 05:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12549992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandom_unnie/pseuds/fandom_unnie
Summary: In which Bangtan's van breaks down in a remote part of Jeju Island on Halloween night, and Taekook should never be left unsupervised.(Temporarily on hold)





	1. Chapter 1

"Boo!"

 

Seokjin jumped, nearly throwing his comic book into the air as Jungkook's face popped up from the seat in front of him. "Yahhh, don't scare me," he whined, swatting the giggling maknae away with his book.

 

"Happy Halloween, hyung!" laughed Jungkook, as if that was supposed to justify his interruption of a perfectly peaceful car ride.

 

Jin just grumbled, settling back down with his book and ignoring the maknae's triumphant grin.

 

"Is it really Halloween?" Hoseok straightened up from the middle of the back seat, sitting forward on his hands so as not to disturb the sleeping Yoongi beside him.

 

"Yep!" Jungkook twisted around again, showing Hoseok his phone screen which displayed the time 12:01am, October 31.

 

"Someone should tell a ghost story," piped Jimin from where he leaned against the dark window, watching the treeline fly by outside.

 

They'd spent the whole day filming a jacket shoot on Jeju Island, in a relatively remote part of the forest that the producers hoped would provide a fresh look for their latest promotion. Now they just had to make the late flight back to the mainland, and the long drive had the youngest members aching for entertainment.

 

"Oh, I have one!" cried Tae, jumping up in his seat and drawing the attention of everyone in the vehicle.

 

A few moments of pensive glances went by, before Hoseok said “I vote Jungkook,” and was met by a loud round of agreement.

 

“Heyyy,” whined Tae, pouting at his hyung. “I really have one. A _real_ one.”

 

“You have a _real_ ghost story?”

 

“Ghosts don't exist,” called Namjoon from the front seat.

 

"Come on hyung, some parts of Jeju are haunted!"

 

"You're too old to believe in ghosts," scolded Jin from the back seat with a laugh.

 

"But what about Yongin Village?” asked Jungkook. “Or Gonjiam Psych Hospital?"

 

"There are ghosts in the Han River," added Taehyung matter-of-factly. “And besides,” he added before anyone else could interrupt him, “You can listen to my story and decide for yourself whether it's real. I got it right out of the article!”

 

“What article?” asked Jimin.

 

"I was looking up the area on Naver and there were a lot of articles about this forest," he said. "It's supposed to be haunted." He waggled his eyebrows dramatically.

 

"Alright, let's hear this one," agreed Jungkook, a look of interest lighting up his eyes as he leaned to see over Taehyung’s shoulder.

 

"Just don't make stuff up," called Yoongi from the back, who was apparently not quite as asleep as he appeared.

 

"Okay okay," muttered Taehyung, scrolling up to the top of the article he was on. He craned his neck to see into the front seat. "Manager hyung, are you listening?"

 

"Of course," chuckled Sejin from the driver's seat. Beside him, Namjoon took out an earbud as well.

 

Tae turned around, covering Jin's comic book with one hand. "No distractions, you have to get the full experience."

 

Seokjin huffed, pouting but obeying.

 

Tae cleared his throat, making his voice even deeper than it already was, and began his dramatic reading at the beginning of the article.

 

“The Gotjawal Forest is well known for its tourism, much of the land untouched by human development, even harboring some endemic species of both plants and animals. But could this unique part of Jeju's wilderness also be harboring something a bit spookier?

 

Ghost stories have surrounded the forest for many years, and while they are not all credible or related, the vast majority of paranormal activity in the area has been accredited to one ghostly creature, known by the locals as the Terror of Gotjawal Forest.”

 

He paused for dramatic effect, looking around at the others and proudly noting that all eyes were trained on him. He grinned, continuing.

 

“Stories of this "terror" have been around for decades: a white (or sometimes grey) apparition, which many believe to be a ghost even though its physical appearance has never been agreed upon. But the number of encounters and sightings have spiked recently, especially around towns and roads on the northwestern side of the island.

 

The creature is reportedly only seen at night, and while most stories seem harmless enough - the occasional apparition or mysterious noise - some claim to have had quite a different experience. There are even reports of eyewitnesses being chased or attacked, and several mysterious deaths in Gotjawal Forest have been attributed to the creature in recent years.

 

Disembodied screams can be heard late at night, as well as crashing in the trees and underbrush, despite there being no evidence to suggest that something as large as a person is inhabiting-”

 

A loud thump interrupted him, followed by two screams in the back seat and a yelp from Jimin as the van jolted to a sudden and shuddering stop.

 

“What was that?” asked Hoseok after a few seconds to catch his breath, looking around frantically as if he expected the answer to appear out of thin air.

 

“Did we hit something?”

 

“No,” said Sejin, turning the key, but to no avail. “And I don't know much about cars, but I don't think this one will be going anywhere anytime soon.”

 

Jimin moaned, slumping back in his seat. “Of course something like this happens.”

 

“I didn't get to finish my story,” mumbled Tae, but nobody was listening to him right then.

 

“How far are we from the airport?” asked Namjoon, taking on his Leader Mon voice.

 

“Forty minutes maybe. I'll call the other vehicle, they shouldn't be too far ahead. Maybe they can come back and get us.”

 

“That sounds like a good idea,” said Yoongi.

 

They sat in silence for several moments as the manager pulled out his phone, dialed, and waited for it to ring.

 

"Huh, that's weird."

 

"What?"

 

"Phone's not working."

 

Hoseok's face went a little white.

 

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's just a bad signal. You guys stay here, I'm gonna walk back up the road and see if I can get a few bars."

 

"Do you want someone to go with you?" asked Jimin.

 

"No no that's alright, you guys stay here, I'll be back in a minute or two." He unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door and stepped out into the open road. A blast of cold air blew in before he slammed it shut again.

 

"What, you don't trust me to protect you?" teased Jungkook when he’d gone, earning a playful but strong punch from Jimin.

 

While the maknae line was bickering, however, the back seat was eerily silent. Besides Yoongi, who had comfortably returned to his nap as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, Hoseok and Jin were sitting in anxious silence, glancing out the back window every few minutes to watch for Sejin’s return.

 

Hoseok shifted uncomfortably in his seat, staring out into the darkness. The moon was particularly bright tonight, casting strange shadows on the trees which stood only a few yards away, and it was much too easy to imagine all sorts of things lurking just beyond his view.

 

He shivered, turning away before he scared himself even more. As if it wasn't enough that they were stranded in the middle of Gotjawal Forest in the middle of the night, the words from Tae's article kept echoing in his head, repeating themselves in a rather disturbing pattern. _Only seen at night, several mysterious deaths, disembodied screams. Only seen at night, several mysterious deaths, disembodied screams._

 

“Hyung!”

 

He almost jumped when Jungkook's voice crashed through his thoughts. “What?”

 

“I asked what do you think?”

 

“Oh, sorry I wasn't listening. What do I think about what?”

 

“About ghosts,” replied Jimin. “Do you think Taehyungie’s story is true?”

 

Hoseok shrugged, giving a short but nervous laugh. “I don't know, it's all a bit far-fetched, don't you think?”

 

Jungkook pursed his lips, genuinely considering the question. “Well, you have to admit that some things are pretty hard to explain otherwise. I think it would make a lot of sense if at least some ghost stories were true.”

 

“Like this one!” said Tae, looking to the others for agreement.

 

Jungkook shrugged. “Could be.”

 

“There's no reason to be so excited about it though,” grumbled Seokjin, glancing out the window again for the eighty-thousandth time.

 

Hoseok followed his gaze, sighing. There was still no sign of Sejin, and even though everything inside him told him not to panic, Hoseok couldn't help the knot that tightened in the pit of his stomach. “Don't you think he's been gone too long?”

 

“Mm?” mumbled Yoongi, half asleep. He shifted his position, sitting up and resting in his corner again. “He's probably still looking for a signal, don't worry about it.”

 

"But he's been gone for almost twenty minutes. Do you think somebody should go look for him?"

 

“Go ahead,” said Yoongi, and that shut Hoseok right up.

 

After a couple of seconds, however, the older boy lolled his head to the side and opened his eyes, studying Hoseok's rigid posture. The dancer was rarely so tense, unless something was really, _really_ bothering him.  "There's no such thing as ghosts, Hoseok-ah, so if that's what's going through your head right now, relax."

 

Hoseok pursed his lips in a forced smile. There was no guarantee that Yoongi actually believed his own words, but Hoseok appreciated them, even if they didn't do much to ease his nerves.

 

“Um.” Tae shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Is now a bad time to say that I have to go to the bathroom?”

 

An exasperated “Aiiishhh” erupted from where Jin was sitting, the eldest boy sitting up from where he had been slumped with his face against the seat in front of him. “Why didn't you go before we left?!”

 

“Because I didn't have to go th-”

 

“Alright alright,” interrupted Yoongi, taking charge of the situation before the bickering could start again. “Take somebody with you and don't go too far.”

 

Taehyung blinked. “Really?”

 

“Well what did you expect to do? Hurry up and be back before Sejin finds a signal and we all leave without you.”

 

“Okay! Come on Kookie.”

 

“Wait, why do I have to go?”

 

“I don't know. Jimin, do you want to-?”

 

“Hah, no thanks, no haunted woods for me. Have fun, you two.”

 

Jungkook made a face. “Gee, thanks.” But he got up to follow Taehyung without any more complaint, the two maknaes jumping out of the door and slamming it behind them.

 

Another blast of freezing night air swept through the vehicle, and Jimin tucked his hands into his jacket pockets as Hoseok shivered in the back seat.

 

“Don't they seem a little too…”

 

“Excited?” Yoongi finished Hoseok's sentence, watching the boys hurry off towards the shadowy treeline. He glanced at Hoseok, smirking, and the younger couldn't help but mirror his amused grin.

 

Yoongi shook his head, turning back to the window, the maknaes now out of sight behind the mess of tangled trunks and branches.

 

The next several minutes were largely uneventful. Seokjin continued reading his comic book, occasionally checking out the windows for any of their people coming back. Namjoon was still up in the front seat, where he hadn't said or done anything since Sejin left, though the other members occasionally caught whispers of songs through his headphones. Jimin was quiet, sprawling out on the middle seat which now belonged entirely to him. Hoseok kept opening games on his phone, but was too fidgety to actually focus on any. And Yoongi dozed off in his corner, waking up every few minutes to keep an eye out for Jungkook and Taehyung.

 

It wasn't until Yoongi noticed the time on Hoseok's phone that anyone voiced what they were all thinking.

 

“It's been ten minutes, you would think they'd be back by now.”

 

“They’re probably just hiding to scare us,” said Jin, and Yoongi had to admit that it was a valid possibility, though he didn't miss the underlying worry in Seokjin’s voice.

 

“Still,” said Hoseok, “Maybe somebody should go out and look for them.”

 

“And by somebody you mean me,” clarified Yoongi. He blinked, receiving looks from both Hoseok and Jin. “What? I know you two certainly don't plan on doing it.”

 

“What about Namjoon hyung?” suggested Jimin, nodding up towards where the leader was still oblivious to everything going on around him.

 

“What?” asked Namjoon, removing one earbud. “Did someone call me?”

 

“Yeah,” replied Jin. “You may have noticed that we're two members short?”

 

Namjoon turned around, observing the lack of maknaes where there once were three. “Oh yeah, bathroom trip, right? Have they been gone long?”

 

“Long enough to be concerning,” said Yoongi.

 

“Do you think somebody should go and get them?”

 

“That’s what I was hoping you were thinking.”

 

Namjoon sighed, pausing his music and taking out both earbuds. “Alright, let's go.”

 

“Both of us?” asked Yoongi.

 

“Sure. There might be ghosts out there, after all.” Namjoon shot a smirk at Jin, who did his best to give an unimpressed glare in return, despite the humor pulling at the corners of his mouth. Seokjin was getting tired of people trying to scare him.

 

“Well, when you put it that way,” laughed Yoongi, sliding out of his cozy corner and crawling over Jimin’s seat to the door. He turned around. “Now, nobody else wander off while we're gone, okay?”

 

Jin rolled his eyes, and then Namjoon and Yoongi were getting out of the van, and a chilly breeze came to greet them as the forest of Gotjawal rose up ahead, just a little more real and a little more spooky than it had seemed through the window.

 

And Yoongi had to remind himself, just to be clear, that there were no such things as ghosts.

 

He couldn't have known it then, but he would have to remind himself several more times before the night was up.


	2. Chapter 2

Yoongi's feet crunched on a floor of dead leaves, the shrill wind howling through the twisted shapes of trees surrounding him on every side.

 

If he had been anyone else, he might have been a great deal more scared by the situation he found himself in. But thankfully, he was Min Yoongi, and Min Yoongi did not get scared.

 

Well, at least not by trees or wind. Or ghosts.

 

By now, however, he and Namjoon had been walking for over five minutes, calling Taehyung’s and Jungkook's names, and even half expecting them to jump out and try to startle them as a Halloween prank. But the maknaes were nowhere to be found. And that did scare him.

 

Every second that went by without a response made his heart beat a little faster, and no matter how many times he told himself they would be just beyond the next clump of trees, it wasn't going to make them appear. At this point, it was getting ridiculous.

 

“Maybe they went back to the van,” suggested Namjoon, who was walking a short ways behind Yoongi. “We might have just missed them. Crossed paths without knowing it.”

 

“Maybe,” agreed Yoongi, but he didn't sound convinced. “Let's just go a little further.”

 

“Whatever you say.”

 

The two of them trudged on, occasionally calling out a name, but mostly just looking, listening, for any sign of their younger counterparts.

 

“Did you hear that?” asked Namjoon, pausing to listen to something.

 

For a moment, Yoongi's hopes rose. “What?”

 

“Sounded like a bird.”

 

Yoongi sighed, spirits crashing right back down again. It took a lot to keep from snapping at Namjoon for making such an unnecessary observation.

 

“But it was down here, in the bushes. Why would a bird be in the bushes?”

 

“Who cares,” muttered Yoongi, tuning the other boy out and walking on, focusing on what they were supposed to be doing. Not losing the maknaes, he thought, that was what they were supposed to be doing.

 

The managers would come back to get them, and he would have to explain why two members were lost out in the woods somewhere, because he’d told them to go. Well, in his defense, he wasn't exactly given much of a choice. But the point was that Taehyung and Jungkook had managed to get themselves lost in a strange forest, while they were already dealing with a broken down van and no way to contact their crew.

 

This was just turning out to be an all around great night.

 

Yoongi sighed, finally slowing down. “Alright, we should go back now. Maybe you’re right, maybe they-” He stopped, glancing around. “Namjoon?”

 

Yoongi spun, looking in every direction for the other boy, and then began walking back the way he came, thinking that perhaps Namjoon had stopped somewhere along the way and he simply hadn't noticed.

 

But Namjoon wasn't there. And Yoongi didn’t know when he had strayed off of their path or how long he had been gone, but Namjoon wasn't there, and Yoongi didn’t know what to do.

 

“Aish, I can't believe this is happening,” he muttered, shoving his hands under his arms against the biting wind.

 

Namjoon couldn't have gone far, but it was hard to see even five feet in front of your face out here, and he didn't know where the other boy had turned off. He stopped, standing perfectly still, listening for any sign of Namjoon's clumsy footsteps. But he heard nothing. Not even the snap of a twig or the rustling of a bush.

 

“Namjoon-ah!” he yelled, straining his ears to listen for a response. But none came. And the forest seemed to swallow up his voice like a black hole, sucking the air and the warmth out of him and leaving a terrible empty feeling in the pit of his stomach.

 

He shook his head, finally forcing himself to move again, and dragged his feet again in the direction of the road. He wasn't going to risk wandering off and getting lost too, no matter how much he wanted to find Namjoon. Something was wrong with this forest. He could feel it. But until he got back to the others, he wasn't going to let himself think about that.

 

Maybe Namjoon just went back to the car, he rationalized, grasping for any reasonable explanation as to why the leader would leave without telling him. But somehow he knew that wasn't true. And when he finally made it back out of the trees and Jimin pulled the van door open, he knew by the look on the younger boy's face that Jungkook and Taehyung weren't back either.

 

“Where's Namjoon?” asked Hoseok the second Yoongi had collapsed down on the middle seat, breathing on his hands to warm them.

 

“I don't know.”

 

“What do you mean you don't know?” shrieked Seokjin, sitting bolt upright.

 

Jimin looked wide-eyed between Jin and Yoongi. “What about Tae and Kookie?”

 

“Couldn't find them.”

 

“What do you _mean_ you couldn't _find_ _them_?” Seokjin sounded like he was on the verge of having a panic attack.

 

“I mean we couldn't find them!” shouted Yoongi. “They’re not there, gone, vanished! I don't know where they went!”

 

Seokjin was stunned into silence and Hoseok and Jimin looked at each other, but Yoongi was in no mood to apologize right then. He sighed, rubbing his eyes. “I suppose Sejin hasn't come back either.”

 

“Nope,” said Jimin, his soft voice doing a surprisingly good job of masking whatever he was feeling.

 

Yoongi leaned back, pulling out his phone and checking the time.

 

_12:45 am_

 

Forty-five minutes. It had been almost forty-five minutes since Sejin left. The crew was probably already at the airport, wondering where they were.

 

“I don't even know what happened,” he said, slumping against the seat in utter defeat. “One minute Namjoon was right behind me, making enough noise to scare away every animal in a three mile radius, and the next he just wasn't.”

 

“He just disappeared?” asked Jimin in disbelief.

 

“I said I don't know.”

 

“What are we supposed to do now?” asked Hoseok, and Yoongi thought he would like to know the same thing. “We can't call anybody.”

 

Their managers would have usually been the first people they turned to, but there was no way to contact them or let them know what was happening.

 

“We don't exactly have many options,” said Yoongi, sitting back up. “Even if the staff do realize we're not coming and send somebody back for us, who knows where the others will be by then?”

 

Seokjin nodded. “You're right. But if you're suggesting we go back out there-”

 

“Listen, if you have a better plan, I'm all ears.”

 

“Shouldn't we wait for Manager hyung to come back?” asked Jimin.

 

“I’m not sure if waiting is the best idea.”

 

“And we don't even know when he'll get back,” agreed Hoseok. “It could be ages from now.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

They all looked at each other for a few moments, trying to figure out what to do.

 

Nobody could have predicted a situation like this. There were eight people in this van an hour ago, and now only four of them were left. It didn't even make sense. And Yoongi hated when things didn't make sense.

 

“Alright,” said Jin, as if he were conceding to some telepathic argument. “But if you're going out there again, you need to have a plan. And you're not going alone.”

 

“Oh? Are you coming with me?”

 

Seokjin gulped, glancing nervously out into the darkness. Jin was the oldest, so of course he felt responsible for everyone, but at the same time, Yoongi didn’t think he’d ever met anyone who could get as scared as Kim Seokjin.

 

“Don't worry about it,” he said, easing Jin's mind before he could even give an answer. “You should stay here and wait for Sejin hyung. Explain where we are and what's happening, if we don't get back first.”

 

Jin nodded, looking a lot more relieved than he probably meant to let on.

 

“Hoseok is the better navigator,” said Yoongi, turning to the younger boy. “What do you think?”

 

“Me?” Hoseok's voice squeaked. “Um, well…” His leg bounced up and down, doing the same anxious dance it had been doing all night. Yoongi thought if he sat still any longer, he might explode. “Okay.”

 

“Good, then that's settled,” said Seokjin. “If you get separated, turn around and come right back here, you got it?”

 

“Sounds good,” said Yoongi, and Hoseok nodded. “Under no circumstances do you two leave this van.”

 

“Then you’d better not get yourselves lost.”

 

“Don't worry.” Yoongi grinned. “We’ll all be back before you know it.”

~♡~

 

It was amazing, Yoongi thought, how quickly his mind could change once the eerie blackness of the forest had swallowed him up again.

 

Even though they'd struck out in a slightly different direction from last time, all of the shadows still looked the same, and the feeling of helplessness and dread which he’d been so careful to hold at bay was finally creeping up on him.

 

He anticipated it now. The silence which answered every call. The emptiness where there should have been life. The ever-growing panic in his chest when he thought about how long the others had been gone. There was no good reason for it, at least not that he could think of. Where could they possibly be out here?

 

There were only three explanations that even made sense, and none of them were very good.

 

Either they were playing some kind of cruel prank (which didn't actually make much sense since Namjoon had disappeared too), or they had wandered off and couldn't find their way back (which was the most plausible in his opinion, though that still didn't quite explain what had happened to Namjoon), or else - and Yoongi didn’t even like to consider the third - there was something very, very wrong with this forest.

 

 _But ghosts don't exist_ , he reminded himself quickly. _Don't start making up stories in your head. It's just a forest. And they just got lost._

 

Hoseok, surprisingly, hadn't said a thing about ghosts since they got out here, even though Yoongi was sure he was thinking it. Tae’s story had a way of sticking in one’s head whether they wanted it to or not. In fact, Hoseok had barely spoken since they left the vehicle, and it had only taken a very little coaxing to get him into the spooky woods.

 

It seemed a bit out of character for him - though he _had_ jumped several times at his own footsteps, and asked “what was that” at just about every owl’s hoot or cicada’s twirr - but Yoongi guessed he was just glad to be moving, rather than sitting and doing nothing but worry. Hoseok had too much energy to be cooped up for very long.

 

And besides, it wasn't quite as bad as the last time out with Namjoon. This time they’d turned Yoongi's phone flashlight on, and found a compass app on Hoseok's phone to help keep track of where they were. Right now, the road was just about due south of them.

 

Yoongi stepped over a fallen log, a gust of wind rustling the leaves around him.

 

Beside him, Hoseok's teeth chattered with the cold.

 

"It's f-freezing out here," said Hoseok, pulling his flimsy jacket more tightly around himself, even though it obviously didn't do any good. These clothes had been meant for the photoshoot, not for traipsing around the woods at midnight.

 

Yoongi watched Hoseok shiver for a moment, before shrugging off his own jacket and handing it to his friend.

 

Hoseok looked down at the padded garment, then back up to Yoongi. "Wh-what are you doing?"

 

"You're cold, I'm not. Take it."

 

"But-"

 

Yoongi rolled his eyes. "If I get cold, I'll ask for it back."

 

Hoseok suppressed a smile, reluctantly taking the jacket and putting it on over his much thinner one.

 

For the rest of their hike, Yoongi made sure to keep from shivering too much.

 

“Kim Taehyung!” called Hoseok, his voice getting stronger as he got a bit braver.

 

The name echoed through the wood.

 

No response.

 

They kept moving.

 

“Jeon Jungkook!”

 

No response.

 

They crossed a trickling stream, double-checking their bearings on the compass.

 

“Kim Nam-”

 

A loud snap in the bushes next to them made Hoseok jump, the rest of his call coming out in a sharp yelp.

 

Yoongi stepped back, heart and mind racing as a phrase from Tae's article sprang into his mind. Hadn't it said something about ‘crashing in the trees and underbrush’?

 

But just as the fear spiked in his chest, another, softer rustle sounded a little ways off, followed by a strange guttural chirping.

 

Yoongi let out a deep breath. “It's just a bird,” he laughed, feeling as if he could faint from relief.

 

 _That's it,_ he told himself, _no more ghost stories for you. This is just ridiculous, getting scared out of your mind by a stupid bird._

 

“That didn't sound like a normal bird to me,” said Hoseok, not quite as willing to forgive the noise, though he did ease up a bit.

 

“I'm sure there are all kinds of weird birds out here,” said Yoongi, lifting his phone light up to continue walking. And reluctantly, Hoseok followed. “Namjoon even thought he heard a bird too,” said Yoongi. “Right before-”

 

“Right before he disappeared?”

 

Yoongi nodded. “Yeah. He kept going on about it, but I wasn't really listening.” Suddenly a thought occurred to him, and he stopped, turning to Hoseok. “You don't think Namjoon would wander off after a bird, do you?”

 

“Actually, that sounds exactly like something he would do.”

 

Yoongi sighed, not sure whether to feel exasperated, or overwhelmingly relieved.

 

Hoseok gave him a quizzical look.

 

“It's nothing, it's just- I had this stupid thought that maybe he'd been taken by a gh-”

 

An ear-shattering scream tore through the air, coming from everywhere at once without warning, and driving both Hoseok and Yoongi to their knees.

 

Yoongi's heart almost lurched out of his chest, beating faster than it had ever beat in his life, and Hoseok's hands trembled violently as they gripped the smaller boy's arms.

 

“Wh-what was that,” gasped Hoseok, the wind completely knocked out of him as he looked frantically around, eyes darting in the dark, but landing on nothing.

 

“I d-don’t- I don't-”

 

“It was that thing,” cried Hoseok, “That thing, the thing from Taehyung’s-”

 

“No, stop, don't-”

 

“It’s a ghost!”

 

“No it's not.”

 

“How can you say that?”

 

“Just don't-”

 

“I can't believe I let you bring me out here!”

 

“Hos-”

 

“It’s a ghost it's a ghost it's a-”

 

“JUNG HOSEOK WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME.”

 

The younger boy clamped his mouth shut, eyes wide, fingers digging deeper into Yoongi's shirt.

 

The air around them went deathly silent, filled only by the pounding heartbeat of two boys. Yoongi let a few moments pass like this before saying anything.

 

He strained his ears to pick up any sound, anything moving near them, anything at all. But there was nothing. The bird had gone, if it had even been a bird. And the gentle nightly singing of the cicadas had ceased, replaced by nothing but a hollow, empty silence that hung over the two of them like a suffocating blanket.

 

“Okay,” he breathed, every muscle in his body still rigid with fright. “Whatever that was-”

 

“It was a ghost,” choked Hoseok, “It w-was exactly like the th-thing in the article. It _was_ , it _was_ true, oh, why are we out here, I want to go back.”

 

“Hey,” said Yoongi, taking Hoseok by the shoulders and forcing him to look up into his eyes.

 

The younger bit back a hitching sob.

 

“Hey, hey, shhhh, it's okay. Are you listening to me?”

 

Hoseok nodded mutely.

 

“The others are still out here somewhere. Tae, and Kookie, and Namjoon. They're out here and we still have to find them, okay?”

 

“But- but the-”

 

“Hoseok, we're the only ones who know where we _are_. If the other guys are gonna get out, they need us.” Yoongi didn’t even know where these words were coming from, but he didn't dare question them. He would settle for anything that kept him from panic right now.

 

Hoseok sniffled, making an attempt to pull himself together. “Alright, but w-what are we supposed to do? If s-something else is out here, then-”

 

“We’ll just have to keep going, and hope that they're within shouting distance.”

 

Yoongi nodded reassuringly, trying to give Hoseok just an extra ounce of courage, even though his own hands were trembling uncontrollably on Hoseok's shoulders.

 

They sat still for another minute, listening and waiting for something else to happen.

 

 _It's not a ghost,_ thought Yoongi. _Ghosts don't exist. There has to be another explanation, somehow._ But for the first time, he wasn't convinced by his own words. And for one terrible, fleeting moment, he got the distinct sensation that he was being watched.

 

~♡~

 

Seokjin sighed, for the thousandth time since Hoseok and Yoongi had left.

 

He didn't have a very good feeling about all of this. Not good at all. But he was powerless to do anything, especially since Yoongi was right. They really didn't have many options.

 

Jimin stirred beside him, waking up from yet another catnap and snuggling into Seokjin’s sweatshirt. The two had been curled up together ever since it started getting colder in the van, all of the heat having been sucked out by the repeated opening and closing of doors. But Jimin was the only one who slept.

 

Seokjin couldn't bring himself to close his eyes, not when five of his brothers were unaccounted for and quite possibly lost in the wilds of Jeju Island.

 

At least, he thought, if Hoseok and Yoongi weren't back, it meant they hadn't been separated. And maybe that meant something. Maybe they would find the others and everything would turn out just fine.

 

Maybe.

 

But Seokjin didn't think it would be that simple.

 

“Hyung,” mumbled Jimin, only half awake. “Are they back yet?”

 

“No,” replied Jin on reflex, before he even twisted around to look out the window. But when he actually did, he had to do a double take.

 

Until now, every single time he'd looked out into the road had been the same. But this time, he could just barely make out the shape of something coming towards them.

 

“Wait-”

 

It looked like a person. For a split second, the thought that it might be a ghost jumped into Jin's mind. But then he recognized that walk, and his heart leaped, and he realized that Sejin was coming back.

 

“Look, look!” he said, shaking Jimin. “It's Manager hyung!”

 

Jimin shot up like a bolt, the sleep instantly disappearing from his face as he looked out the window. “It is?” He gasped. “It is!” The younger boy pulled away from Jin's warmth, clambering over the middle seat and pulling the door open, barely even seeming to notice the cold now.

 

“Manager hyung!” he cried, jumping out of the van and taking off up the road, tackling Sejin with a fierce hug.

 

Seokjin followed at a slightly more reasonable pace, but with no less enthusiasm. “Sejin hyung! We almost gave up on you!”

 

“I know,” said the manager, his deep voice just about the most welcome sound on earth. “I'm sorry I was gone for so long.” He smiled down at Jimin, ruffling the boy’s hair affectionately as he detached from the hug. “By the time I got ahold of the team, they were already at the airport. But they said they would send someone back to get us.” He checked the digital face of his watch, the light-up numbers displaying 1:26 am. “They should be here any minute.”

 

Suddenly, Jin’s spirits plummeted. “Ah… Hyung-nim, about that…”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Uh…” Seokjin faltered, unsure how to say it. He had been so relieved back when Yoongi told him to stay behind, but now that he was actually faced with telling Sejin everything, he wished he’d just gone out into the black forest instead. There was no good way to put this.  “Uh… Taehyung, Jungkook, Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hoseok... went into the woods. And they haven't come back."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to all you lovely people who leave comments on my stories, you actually make my day every single time :)
> 
> I know I can be really slow to update, but you guys keep me inspired and I can't thank you enough. Love y'all! ♡

 

A twig snapped under Hoseok's foot, making both him and Yoongi jump.

 

Nothing else significant had happened since they heard the scream, but nothing else really needed to happen. They could feel it now. All around them. The whole forest felt it, and it had been ages since they’d heard any sound besides themselves.

 

All of the natural nightly noises had ceased to exist, sucked into the black hole that was Gotjawal Forest.

 

Something was there. Something was there with them. Watching them. Following them.

 

Yoongi didn’t say anything, because he was sure Hoseok could feel it too, and there was no need to bring up something that both of them would rather believe didn't exist.

 

“I'm going crazy out here,” muttered Hoseok, recovering from his scare as they both continued walking.

 

“You're telling me,” breathed Yoongi.

 

It had been a while since either of them had dared to shout for the other members, too afraid to break the wall of silence that surrounded them. The only time they’d spoken was in hushed whispers, and usually only when they were discussing directions on the compass.

 

“I say we turn west here,” said Hoseok, holding his phone up for Yoongi to see again. They'd been heading north-east for quite some time now.

 

“Sounds good.” Yoongi ducked under a low-hanging branch, turning to look for a clear path to their left. But just as he did so, a shadow moved in the bushes up ahead, disappearing through the trees as if it had been sitting there and watching them the whole time. Yoongi's heart skipped a beat. He turned to see if Hoseok had seen it as well, but he was still looking at the phone.

 

“Alright, it should be this way,” said Hoseok, still looking at the screen as he began to walk.

 

Yoongi hesitated for a second, wondering whether he should say anything or not. But then he shook his head, falling into step beside Hoseok as if nothing had happened.

 

_ Because it didn't, _ he thought.  _ Stop imagining things. Shadows are just shadows, there's no need to make them into anything more. It was probably just the wind moving the leaves. _

 

But he wasn't so willing to believe himself anymore, and as he held his phone’s flashlight out in front of them, he made extra sure to watch the bushes for any more movement.

 

“Shh,” said Hoseok suddenly.

 

“What?” Yoongi froze in his tracks, the hair rising on the back of his neck. “I didn't say anything.”

 

“No, listen.” 

 

Yoongi held his breath and listened, his heart beat speeding up. After a long stretch of silence, he ventured to whisper, “What did you think you heard?”

 

“Something moving,” replied Hoseok quickly, pointing just ahead of them and a little to the north. “Over there.”

 

Yoongi followed his gaze, but the only thing he saw was the same tangle of trees and vines that they'd been traversing for what felt like forever now. Here, in the thicker parts of the forest, the underbrush was nearly as high as their heads, making it even harder to get anywhere or see anything. “Was it big enough to be one of the guys?”

 

“Maybe. I only heard it once though, could've been anything. Or nothing.”

 

Yoongi pursed his lips, hugging his arms close to his body and bouncing on the balls of his feet. He was aching from the cold, every muscle in his body clenched tight, and he wasn't sure how much longer he was going to be able to stand it without turning back. He refused to go back, though, not without finding the others.

 

Raising his voice a little, he dared to call out again. “Jungkook?” He hadn't even really shouted, but the sudden use of his real voice seemed incredibly loud in the hushed wood.

 

As usual, there was no reply. But a faint shifting in the brush came a moment later.

 

“Taehyung?”

 

No response.

 

Yoongi and Hoseok looked at each other.

 

“Do you think we could get over there?” Yoongi tried to keep the trembling out of his voice.

 

“We could try,” said Hoseok, though he didn't sound very enthused by the idea either.

 

“Come on. You  _ do _ want to get out of here eventually, don't you?”

 

“Of course I do,” pouted Hoseok, shivering despite the fact that he was wearing both of their jackets.

 

“Well, come on then, we're not going to find anybody if we don't try.” Yoongi stepped forward, whacking the underbrush out of his way to hide the shaking in his hands.

 

Hoseok stayed where he was, looking about as unsure as Yoongi felt. But they couldn't afford to hesitate any more, unless they wanted to freeze to death out here.

 

“Or,” said Yoongi, turning around, “You could just stay here and wait for me.”

 

Hoseok jumped. “What? No I'm coming, I'm coming!” He was on his toes in half a second, following quickly behind Yoongi with an urgency that said he  _ really _ didn't want to be left alone out here. Not that Yoongi could have actually left him behind, not with what had already happened to Namjoon.

 

Together, they fought their way through the obstinate underbrush, thorns catching at their pant legs, and thick groupings of trees making them turn direction once or twice. Hoseok even freaked out when he walked right through a spiderweb, and it took a great deal of coaxing from Yoongi to get him moving again.

 

But eventually, after no small degree of trouble, they came to an area where the trees weren't quite so dense, and it was easier to breathe.

 

Yoongi looked around, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the new surroundings.

 

Patches of moonlight filtered in to give the area a haunted glow, trees stretching up and up like great pillars in an ancient cathedral. The shadows were long, and the whole place felt desolate, despite the carpet of lush ferns and twisted vines creeping up the bases of the trees, like the tomb of some long forgotten forest spirit.

 

It was an awe-inspiring sight at night, one that very few people had probably ever gotten to witness, hidden in such a remote part of the forest. But Yoongi wasn't in much of a mood to enjoy it.

 

Even though they had escaped the worst of the suffocating underbrush, the feeling that they were being watched hadn't faded in the least. Yoongi shivered involuntarily.

 

Hoseok took one look and turned around. “Nope, nobody here, let's go.”

 

“Woah woah where are you going?” asked Yoongi, catching Hoseok by his hood. “We haven't even looked around yet.”

 

“Why would we want to look around?” hissed Hoseok in the loudest whisper he could manage. “Nobody's here, and it's creepy, let's just-”

 

A twig snapped behind them.

 

Yoongi and Hoseok whipped around, a thrill of alarm running up Yoongi's spine as his eyes darted from one tree to another, searching for the source of the noise.

 

At first, everything looked just the same as it had before, the moonlight bathing the trees in silver and grey and casting strange shadows where there shouldn't have been any.

 

But then one of the shadows moved, and Yoongi realized with a horrifying jolt that they were not alone.

 

Something was standing right there, only six or seven yards away between two of the largest pillars, and it seemed to ripple to life as if it were part of a moving painting.

 

Before Yoongi could even realize what was happening, Hoseok’s hand was on his arm like a vice, yanking him back and pulling him down behind a fallen log that he hadn't even noticed was there.

 

His eyes were still locked on the thing though, unable to tear himself away from the impossible sight. It was as if someone had cut a piece out of a picture, only the piece had never belonged to that picture in the first place. Shafts of moonlight played across the mysterious form, nearly blending it into the rest of the forest again. But once he had seen it, Yoongi couldn't un-see it.

 

It had been standing there all along, he realized. Camouflaged, but there, and it was ghostly, sickly pale. The light didn't pass through it though, as he had first thought, but only reflected off of its dull skin. The whole thing was playing tricks on his eyes.

 

_ It's not human. _

 

The thought hit him like a thunderclap, but as soon as it did, everything started making more sense.

 

Until it turned, and he saw the horse-like head, the gaunt face, hollowed out eye sockets. He saw the body, the tail. The legs, bending backwards, and the bony front limbs gathered up to its chest. The word  _ dinosaur _ didn’t flash across his mind then, but it wouldn't exactly have made things better if it did. Everything about it was so terribly wrong that Yoongi couldn't even blame Hoseok for letting out a cry of shock.

 

The younger boy fell back, wide-eyed, and clapped a hand over his mouth. But not before the creature's head snapped up, twisted all the way around and pinned him with an icy stare.

 

Yoongi's heart stopped.

 

The thing was nearly as tall as a man, but nothing about it looked familiar or natural in the least. It wasn't like any animal he’d ever seen, not even in movies. He'd heard about new species being discovered in this forest, but this was in its own league entirely.

 

How could something like this survive out here without being discovered? Yoongi thought the stories would’ve spread like wildfire, if someone found this thing living practically in their backyard.

 

A moment later, he got his answer.

 

Along the ridge of its back, its white flesh seemed to ripple, almost disappearing into the background of the forest. And that's when Yoongi realized it wasn't disappearing at all. If he looked hard enough, he could still see the mottled pattern of the skin, only now in dull greys and blues and greens. It wasn't disappearing, it was  _ camouflaging _ , in a way that was less than comforting and more than ghostly.

 

_ This  _ was the creature in Taehyung’s article.  _ This  _ was the Terror of Gotjawal Forest, the apparition nobody could prove beyond the bodies it left behind.

 

The creature cocked its head, chirping once as if to ask some kind of question. And then suddenly Yoongi remembered the chirping they had heard back in the bushes, and the sound Namjoon was talking about before he disappeared, and suddenly Yoongi couldn't breathe.

 

Hoseok was dragging himself backwards, hands trembling violently in the dry leaves as he backed away from the monster. “Hyung, h-hyung-”

 

But Yoongi only stared as the creature took a step forward, stalking towards them with its body low to the ground. A deep rumble emanated from its throat, the monster's jaws parting just far enough to show a row of jagged, bloodstained teeth as it took another step towards Hoseok.

 

Blood. That was  _ blood _ .

 

Yoongi sucked in a sharp breath, tears of shock stinging his eyes as his mind whirled with thoughts of Namjoon and Taehyung and Jungkook.

 

_ Oh please, please- _

 

“Hyung!” The boy beside him was shrieking now, the monster only two yards away. Yoongi could smell the sweet stench of rot on its breath.

 

And all at once, Yoongi's wits came back to him.

 

He scrambled up, body stiff and sore from hunching over in the cold, but he barely noticed those things now.

 

“Hey!” The cry ripped from his throat before he could formulate a complete thought, the monster's attention instantly snapping from Hoseok to him.

 

Yoongi froze, locking eyes with it, and the next time he spoke, his voice was hoarse. “Hoseok, run.”

 

“Wh-wha-”

 

“Run, I said, run!”

 

Then all at once, the forest exploded to life, the monster lurching forward just as Yoongi dove out of the way, skinning his elbows on the log as he grabbed Hoseok, the other boy still frozen in place.

 

“Move you idiot, go, go!”

 

And then Hoseok jumped, scrambling up ahead of Yoongi and crashing into the tall underbrush, thick bushes and vines swallowing him immediately. 

 

An unearthly scream rose up behind them, driving Yoongi's feet even harder into the undergrowth as adrenaline flooded his system.

 

The thorns tore at their clothes, but Yoongi didn't even notice, sounds of pursuit crashing behind them as they ran as hard and as fast as they could without looking back.

 

Hoseok veered to the right, and Yoongi ducked after him without hesitation, making a hard turn and nearly slipping over the edge of a steep bank before righting himself and continuing up the steep embankment.

 

Between the trees, Yoongi caught glimpses of a ravine with water at the bottom and a mess of roots tangling down into it, falling away only a few feet to his left.

 

He was just beginning to think that he didn’t like their position when the crashing behind them grew fainter, and for a second Yoongi thought that maybe they'd lost the thing.

 

Until he almost ran into Hoseok, who’d stopped just in time to avoid running straight into the monster's jaws.

 

Yoongi choked, doubling back in search of an escape route.

 

“Down,” cried Hoseok, “Go down!” And without waiting for a reply, he took Yoongi's arm and pulled them both over the edge of the ravine as the monster pounced.

 

Yoongi scrambled to get a foothold on the earth and vines, but it was more like falling than climbing, the rough branches tore at his hands when he grasped for them, and the short trip ended with a thud at the bottom.

 

They couldn't stop though, not here. Yoongi groaned, pulling himself up as a screech resounded above them. He didn’t even spare a glance, grasping for Hoseok's hand and running further into the ravine.

 

Loose stones clattered under their feet, skittering away and threatening to turn their ankles if they took one wrong step. The whole ground was rocky and covered in weeds, and Yoongi wasn’t crazy about their position either. It felt vulnerable, exposed, like they were caught in a fishbowl, and that thing was the cat.

 

“This way,” he said breathlessly, catching sight of some thick bushes which might prove enough to hide them.

 

Thankfully, the river running through the bottom of the ravine wasn’t as deep as it looked, and they were halfway across it before they heard the monster come down after them.

 

“Faster,” gasped Hoseok, splashing onto the bank and dragging Yoongi behind him.

 

They were within the shelter of the bushes a moment later, doubling over to hide themselves and crawling deeper into the brush on their hands and knees.

 

“Do you think it saw us?” breathed Hoseok in the lowest of whispers.

 

_ Yes _ , answered Yoongi in his head, but he didn't dare to say anything out loud, ears straining to pick up any sign of pursuit.

 

They both held perfectly still, waiting for something to happen.

 

Nothing did.

 

It didn't seem right. No matter how much Yoongi wanted to think they'd outwitted the monster, it didn't seem right that they hadn't even heard a stone turn, or a splash in the river.

 

After several moments of painful silence, Yoongi dared to creep to the edge of the bushes, peering out between the leaves. He could see the stream, and the ridge they'd come down. But no monster.

 

And then he remembered.  _ Of course. It can camouflage. _

 

His whole body stiffened, suddenly aware that it could be right in front of him and he would never even know it. His eyes darted over the terrain, searching for any shadows that didn't belong, but from his vantage point it was pretty much useless.

 

_ “Great.” _

 

“Wh-what are we supposed to do?” whispered Hoseok, creeping up beside Yoongi.

 

“There's no way it didn't see us.” Yoongi’s voice was low, barely more than a rumble. He hated this, not knowing where the blasted thing was when it was undoubtedly looking right at them. “We have to move.”

 

“B-but-” Hoseok stuttered, and Yoongi didn’t know if it was from the fear or the numbing cold. “If we m-move it'll come after us.”

 

“At least then we'll know where it is.” Yoongi was also desperately trying to keep his teeth from chattering, jaw already aching from the effort. “If there's a wasp in the room, I'd like to be able to see it.”

 

“Then where do we go? N-no matter what we do-”

 

Yoongi placed a finger up to Hoseok's lips, hushing him before he could grow any more hysterical. Then he paused, surveying the area through the branches of their hiding place. The walls of the ravine rose up on every side around them, maybe four meters at the lowest, with thick tree roots tangling down into it on every side in a wall of wooden snakes. Thankfully, they had not seen any real snakes, though Yoongi was sure there were some here somewhere. The thought of vipers slithering through the underbrush did not bode particularly well with him.

 

“There,” he said, pointing to a dip in the wall where the roots looked easy enough to climb. “We could get out there, if we're quick. Maybe that thing’s not as good at climbing out as it is at falling in.”

 

Hoseok didn't say anything, but looked to where Yoongi was pointing and eventually gave a reluctant nod.

 

“Alright,” said Yoongi. “On my count of three.”

 

They both shifted their legs under them, getting ready to run.

 

“One.”

 

Hoseok tensed.

 

“Two.”

 

Yoongi swallowed, calculating the distance between them and the way out. They could make it, he told himself. They could make it.

 

“Three!”

 

Both of them bolted out of the underbrush, running as hard as they could towards their target and bracing themselves for whatever might happen.

 

Unfortunately, they weren't quite ready for the movement in the ridge right ahead of them, and Yoongi’s heart skipped a beat as a ghastly figure pulled itself right out of the twisted roots, the creature's wide open red mouth contrasting freakishly with its pale face and blank eyes.

 

Had it known they would try to escape there?

 

Yoongi turned on his heel as his mind spun, searching feverishly for another way out. Hoseok might have yelled, but Yoongi couldn't remember.

 

His feet moved, pounding the ground again, but he didn't know where he was going now. They’d lost their one good chance.

 

“We should've just stayed there!” shrieked Hoseok, now in complete panic mode as he stumbled recklessly over the rocky ground.

 

“We couldn't just- wahh-” Yoongi veered to the left as the monster suddenly flanked his right, so close he could have touched it.

 

This thing was fast. WAY too fast.

 

“Go! Faster!”

 

“I AM going- yaaaaah!” Hoseok nearly crashed into Yoongi when the creature appeared on his left. “What is it doing?!”

 

Suddenly it was in front of them, forcing them to turn yet again, and then it was rounding them and chasing them across the river into the bushes.

 

No matter what they did or where they ran, it was always there, right behind them or right in front of them, driving them together and apart, driving them in circles.

 

Yoongi's lungs ached, limbs threatening to quit altogether as his energy levels dropped below critical. If this thing had wanted to catch them, it could have done it a thousand times by now. It wasn't  _ hunting  _ them, it was  _ playing  _ with them.

 

“H-hoseok- I don't- I think-” Yoongi’s legs were about to buckle beneath him, but just before his body could give out, Hoseok’s jacket caught on a bush and the younger boy squeaked in panic.

 

“Hyung!”

 

If anything could have given Yoongi one extra ounce of strength, it was that.

 

Without even thinking about how close the monster was, he spun around and fumbled for Hoseok's zipper, ripping the coat off of his body just as the creature overtook them. Hoseok sprung free, leaving the piece of clothing behind in the bush for the monster to tear into as he shot away through the underbrush to the edge of the ravine.

 

A wall of roots and vines rose up before them, too steep to climb, and Yoongi looked around frantically for a way of escape.

 

Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a small hollow, low to the ground and shielded behind a mess of roots, and before the monster could catch up with them he pulled Hoseok inside and slammed both of them up against the loose, earthy wall.

 

Clamping a hand over Hoseok's mouth, he held his breath and suddenly became perfectly still as the bushes rustled outside.

 

Slow, heavy footsteps approached their hiding place, but the only sound Yoongi really heard was his own heartbeat throbbing in his ears. He prayed that the darkness in here was enough to hide them, prayed that he wouldn't move and give them away.

 

He could see the monster's scaly feet stop just outside of the opening, cruelly curved claws digging into the soft earth. And for sixty agonizing seconds, it just stood there, doing nothing.

 

Was it listening? Could it hear his pounding heart?

 

His lungs felt as if they would burst, burning for oxygen. But he refused to take a breath, vision growing blurry as the seconds dragged on.

 

And then, after what felt like an eternity, the creature finally turned and moved on, bushes rustling as it left.

 

Hoseok and Yoongi collapsed, both gasping for air as they slumped against the side of the hollow, sweat rolling down Yoongi's temple despite the cold.

 

He lay, panting, with his head resting on Hoseok's shoulder, every inch of his body aching with exhaustion, and his eyes closed against the spinning world.

 

At that very moment, Yoongi would’ve been completely useless if the monster came back, so utterly spent that he didn’t even reach up to brush the matted locks of hair out of his face.

 

And they stayed like that, not bothering to move or speak, just lying there as the natural forest noises slowly filled the night air.

 

At last, the suffocating blanket of tension lifted a little, and Yoongi had never thought he could be so glad to hear crickets in all his life.

 

“It's gone,” breathed Hoseok, like he could hardly believe it. “I thought we were going to die. I really thought we were going to die.”

 

Yoongi shifted, tucking his numb hands under his arms and huddling close to Hoseok. “Me too.”

 

He should have felt happy, and he did, he felt relieved. But now that he wasn't running for his life, all of their other problems came rushing back like a wave, even bigger now than before.

 

They still hadn't found the other guys. Taehyung, Jungkook, and Namjoon were still out there somewhere. And now this… thing, was out there too.

 

Yoongi still couldn't shake the memory of the monster's mouth, teeth stained with bright red blood. Fresh blood.

 

His breath caught in his throat, and suddenly he sat up, the unthinkable racing through his mind. This couldn't be real, it couldn't be them. They had to be out here somewhere, they had to be okay. He had to  _ find  _ them.

 

“Hoseok.”

 

“Hm?” The younger boy sat up next to him, drawing his knees up to his chin.

 

“Where's your phone? We need to keep looking, where are we?”

 

Hoseok swallowed, digging his hand into his pocket, but paused a moment later. “Oh.”

 

“What?”

 

“It was... in the other jacket.”

 

Yoongi blinked, the realization of what that meant coming over him a few seconds later. “You mean-”

 

They looked at each other, then turned and scrambled out of the hollow into the dense thicket.

 

Yoongi's legs were still wobbly, but that didn't stop him from retracing their steps quickly through the bushes, back to where Hoseok had lost the jacket.

 

Little more than a tattered black rag remained now, still strung up in the branches but torn beyond recognition. Yoongi shuddered to think what would have happened if the monster had gotten its teeth into more than just the jacket.

 

Hoseok reached into the pocket, pulling out his phone - or, at least, what was left of it. The screen was totally shattered, clear tooth marks piercing the device in multiple places, and it was no surprise that it refused to turn on.

 

Well. There went their compass.

 

“Now what?” asked Hoseok, tossing the thing aside. “If we don't have that, then-”

 

“Then we’re no better off than the others,” Yoongi finished, turning to gaze into the darkness, trying to recall which way the road was.

 

But no matter how carefully he retraced their steps from the past hour, he still couldn't be totally sure.

 

And now they were stuck out there, in the middle of Gotjawal Forest with no compass and no way of contacting the others. And Yoongi was beginning to get the terrible sinking feeling that something very bad may have already happened to their friends.

  
  


~♡~

  
  


Jimin ran a hand through his hair, attempting to calm himself while the manager paced back and forth and Seokjin leaned uncomfortably against the side of the van.

 

“And how long did you say they’ve been gone?” Sejin paused in his pacing, looking at Jin for an answer. He'd been pacing ever since they told him about everything that had happened, and didn't show signs of stopping anytime soon.

 

Jimin had been expecting a harsh reaction, or at least a stern lecture about not letting the maknaes wander off unsupervised. But the manager had been eerily quiet, keeping his thoughts to himself as he paced back and forth along the length of the vehicle.

 

“Over an hour,” responded Jimin instead, watching the manager turn again and walk back over his path.

 

“An hour and a half,” corrected Jin, checking his watch for the thousandth time. “Aish, I just wish we knew what was happening out there!”

 

Jimin nodded. An hour, an hour and a half. It felt more like an  _ eternity  _ to him.

 

He stared at his feet, bouncing up and down in the yellow light filtering down onto the pavement through the van window.

 

First Tae and Jungkook, then Namjoon, now Yoongi and Hoseok. He'd always hated horror movies, but now he felt like he was caught in the middle of one.

 

“Hey,” said Seokjin suddenly, head snapping up. “Did you hear something?”

 

“What? Uh, I don't-” Jimin trembled, a shiver going up his spine. But then he stopped, ears perking up when a sound interrupted him. And it wasn't just any sound. It sounded like a voice. And Jimin knew that voice.

 

“Namjoon hyung!” he squeaked, running around the van just in time to catch sight of a tall, lanky figure stepping out of the forest, and Jimin’s heart soared.

 

Suddenly he was flooded with more relief than he'd ever felt in his life, and before he could even move, Jin was already running to meet the other boy, throwing his arms around his neck and nearly knocking both of them over.

 

Namjoon was laughing, and Jimin was smiling so big his face hurt.

 

“Namjoon-ah,” cried Jin, pulling back from the hug but never letting go of Namjoon. “You scared me to death! Where were you?”

 

Jimin thought Seokjin sounded like he might cry.

 

“I’m sorry hyung, I didn’t mean to get separated. There was this noise, and- ah, it's hard to explain.”

 

Jin led them both up to the road, swatting Namjoon in mock punishment after he’d hugged Jimin and greeted Sejin. “You know better than to run off after strange noises, Kim Namjoon. It could’ve been any number of wild animals!”

 

“No really hyung, something weird is going on out there. Please tell me Jungkook and Taehyung made it back safe.”

 

Jin and Jimin looked at each other, the smiles slipping from their faces. “No, we haven't seen them since you did. What's-”

 

Namjoon looked around. “Wait, where are Yoongi and Hoseok?”

  
“Looking for you!”   
  


“Oh no.”

  
“What?”

  
“Guys, there's something really wrong with this forest.”


End file.
